diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 96b19fa4..4199f81a 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 from os.path import join, dirname
 from setuptools import setup
+import sys
+
 
 
 VERSION = (0, 0, 1)
@@ -21,6 +23,10 @@ tests_require = [
     'mock',
 ]
 
+# use external unittest for 2.6
+if sys.version_info[:2] == (2, 6):
+    tests_require.append('unittest2')
+
 setup(
     name = 'elasticsearch',
     description = "Python client for Elasticsearch",
diff --git a/test_elasticsearch/test_cases.py b/test_elasticsearch/test_cases.py
index ffeb5a81..1baa3db9 100644
--- a/test_elasticsearch/test_cases.py
+++ b/test_elasticsearch/test_cases.py
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
-from unittest import TestCase
 from collections import defaultdict
+try:
+    # python 2.6
+    from unittest2 import TestCase, SkipTest
+except ImportError:
+    from unittest import TestCase, SkipTest
 
 from elasticsearch import Elasticsearch
 
diff --git a/test_elasticsearch/test_client/__init__.py b/test_elasticsearch/test_client/__init__.py
index cabb95d3..caa77eda 100644
--- a/test_elasticsearch/test_client/__init__.py
+++ b/test_elasticsearch/test_client/__init__.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
-from unittest import TestCase
-
 from elasticsearch.client import _normalize_hosts
 
+from ..test_cases import TestCase
+
 class TestNormalizeHosts(TestCase):
     def test_none_uses_defaults(self):
         self.assertEquals([{}], _normalize_hosts(None))
diff --git a/test_elasticsearch/test_client/test_utils.py b/test_elasticsearch/test_client/test_utils.py
index 42468083..bf42278b 100644
--- a/test_elasticsearch/test_client/test_utils.py
+++ b/test_elasticsearch/test_client/test_utils.py
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
-from unittest import TestCase, SkipTest
-
 from elasticsearch.client.utils import _make_path
 
+from ..test_cases import TestCase, SkipTest
+
 class TestMakePath(TestCase):
     def test_handles_unicode(self):
         id = u"中文"
diff --git a/test_elasticsearch/test_connection.py b/test_elasticsearch/test_connection.py
index c509d82c..f471a54f 100644
--- a/test_elasticsearch/test_connection.py
+++ b/test_elasticsearch/test_connection.py
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
 import re
-from unittest import TestCase
-
 from mock import Mock, patch
 
 from elasticsearch.exceptions import TransportError
 from elasticsearch.connection import RequestsHttpConnection
 
+from .test_cases import TestCase
+
 class TestRequestsConnection(TestCase):
     def _get_mock_connection(self, connection_params={}, status_code=200, response_body=u'{}'):
         con = RequestsHttpConnection(**connection_params)
diff --git a/test_elasticsearch/test_connection_pool.py b/test_elasticsearch/test_connection_pool.py
index 0d03cf90..e67a7d87 100644
--- a/test_elasticsearch/test_connection_pool.py
+++ b/test_elasticsearch/test_connection_pool.py
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 import time
-from unittest import TestCase
 
 from elasticsearch.connection_pool import ConnectionPool, RoundRobinSelector
 
+from .test_cases import TestCase
+
 class TestConnectionPool(TestCase):
     def test_default_round_robin(self):
         pool = ConnectionPool([(x, {}) for x in range(100)])
diff --git a/test_elasticsearch/test_serializer.py b/test_elasticsearch/test_serializer.py
index 65d7abc0..061a0048 100644
--- a/test_elasticsearch/test_serializer.py
+++ b/test_elasticsearch/test_serializer.py
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 from datetime import datetime
-from unittest import TestCase
 
 from elasticsearch.serializer import JSONSerializer
 from elasticsearch.exceptions import SerializationError
 
+from .test_cases import TestCase
+
 class TestJSONSerializer(TestCase):
     def test_datetime_serialization(self):
         self.assertEquals(u'{"d": "2010-10-01T02:30:00"}', JSONSerializer().dumps({'d': datetime(2010, 10, 1, 2, 30)}))
diff --git a/test_elasticsearch/test_server/__init__.py b/test_elasticsearch/test_server/__init__.py
index eea524bd..0fd5ebf5 100644
--- a/test_elasticsearch/test_server/__init__.py
+++ b/test_elasticsearch/test_server/__init__.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import requests
 from elasticsearch import Elasticsearch
 from elasticsearch.exceptions import ConnectionError
 
-from unittest import SkipTest, TestCase
+from ..test_cases import TestCase, SkipTest
 
 data_dir = None
 
diff --git a/test_elasticsearch/test_server/test_common.py b/test_elasticsearch/test_server/test_common.py
index 488d932e..1afb6a14 100644
--- a/test_elasticsearch/test_server/test_common.py
+++ b/test_elasticsearch/test_server/test_common.py
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ clients.
 from os import walk, environ
 from os.path import exists, join, dirname, pardir
 import yaml
-from unittest import SkipTest
 
+from ..test_cases import SkipTest
 from . import ElasticTestCase
 
 # some params had to be changed in python, keep track of them so we can rename
diff --git a/test_elasticsearch/test_server/test_memcached.py b/test_elasticsearch/test_server/test_memcached.py
index c91293c2..9f473dd4 100644
--- a/test_elasticsearch/test_server/test_memcached.py
+++ b/test_elasticsearch/test_server/test_memcached.py
@@ -4,8 +4,7 @@ from elasticsearch import Elasticsearch, MemcachedConnection, NotFoundError
 from elasticsearch.transport import ADDRESS_RE
 
 from . import ElasticTestCase
-
-from unittest import SkipTest
+from ..test_cases import SkipTest
 
 class TestMemcachedConnection(ElasticTestCase):
     def setUp(self):
diff --git a/test_elasticsearch/test_transport.py b/test_elasticsearch/test_transport.py
index 95c760c2..92446036 100644
--- a/test_elasticsearch/test_transport.py
+++ b/test_elasticsearch/test_transport.py
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 import time
-from unittest import TestCase
 
 from elasticsearch.transport import Transport
 from elasticsearch.connection import Connection
 from elasticsearch.exceptions import ConnectionError
 
+from .test_cases import TestCase
+
 class DummyConnection(Connection):
     def __init__(self, **kwargs):
         self.exception = kwargs.pop('exception', None)